


I'm Just Here For the Drinks, Honest

by Mosquito1945



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Iron Man 3 Spoilers, M/M, Thor: The Dark World Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 09:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mosquito1945/pseuds/Mosquito1945
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki got that drink following the battle of New York, it would have been rude to deny a last request.  Tony got some information, a new hobby, and inspiration.   FrostIron Fest 2013, Gift 71, Prompt 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Just Here For the Drinks, Honest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cale/gifts).



Months had passed since Tony had destroyed all the Iron Man suits.  Which wasn’t to say that he hadn’t built replacements, he had, of course.  But only because Steve had given him puppy eyes about the Avengers needing him.  Yeah, that was totally it.  But the time in his life he had spent neurotically building suits to cope with every possible outcome was over and it wasn’t exciting anymore. He was never one to dwell on the past; too much trouble lay down those dark paths, so now he needed a different focus.  The new suits were better in every way, faster, lighter, more fire power.  But that wasn’t what had occupied his time.  Not anymore, now he was deeply involved in the construction of a device he hoped would transport him to another realm without having to go through Thor.

It had been nearly three years since he had dragged Loki to his lab following the battle of New York.  As far as his team was concerned, Loki had been brought to the lab so Tony could get readings of his magic so that if they were attacked similarly in the future, they would be prepared.  Fury, had of course demanded that it be conducted on SHIELD property, but in the aftermath of battle, with everything in disarray, Tony had won the argument easily.  And Tony had taken those readings like a good little minion; he didn’t pass them on, claiming Loki messed with his equipment, but he got them. It killed two birds with one stone, though his true motivation was a little less altruistic.  He had promised the man a drink, and if he was getting marched off some horrific fate, Tony was damn well gonna give it to him.  He’d been the one to offer, it would have been rude to refuse.  The flirting they had engaged in during the lead up to the battle had intrigued him greatly and he was curious to spend more time with a wit and intellect that could match his own. There wasn’t much Tony remembered fondly from the battle of New York; that night in the lab was pretty much it.  First thing in the morning, Thor had put an end to everything and demanded that Loki be returned to Asgard to face justice.

Of course, he hadn’t told his team about any of that.  There were some things they just didn’t need to know.  Thor claimed the dark haired god was dead.  Tony knew differently... or suspected differently anyhow.  Loki had appeared very vividly in his dreams in the months after the battle, but in the last few months, the frequency had definitely amped up.  Another thing he wasn’t ever going to share.  He was pretty sure dead-gods couldn’t project such intricate fantasies and they were too real to be something created solely within his own subconscious.  He just had to prove it.  Visiting another world would be a bonus, but Tony would be lying if he didn’t admit to himself that a lot of his motivation was relating to the possibility of actually having physical contact with his immortal lover. Now, those readings were the be all and end all of his world.  

Tony had cracked the code that Loki had buried in the energy signature of his magic months ago.  A trail of breadcrumbs that after a lot of theoretical testing and pretty much inventing a new branch of science- which he probably should have shared with Dr. Foster- he had discovered a way to travel between the realms.  He made a mental note that if it worked, he would have JARVIS send her a copy of his data once he was off-world.  He didn’t need tag-alongs for this first trip.  

After that, there was the “simple” matter of creating a device to tap into the energy that apparently tied the nine realms together and convincing himself that this was totally a good idea.   Was this a good idea?  Probably not, but it was something new and different for sure.  He had JARVIS do a once over on his armor, made sure there was a recent copy of his will on the server, and powered up the machine that would allegedly throw him through a vortex to another realm, he stepped into the void, not at all sure what he would find on the other side.

 

Ruling, as it turned out, was nothing like what he had imagined it would be.  Loki was willing to admit to himself that he hadn’t, in actuality, given much thought to what he would do once he was in power, but this tedium was certainly not it.  Of course, the method of his sudden rise to power was far from what he had envisioned in his daydreams and schemes. Who would have guessed that telling the old man that the son he had disinherited was dead would send him into the Odinsleep?  And Loki, never one to miss an opportunity so beautiful when he was presented with it, safely stashed the Allfather away where he was unlikely to be discovered and stepped into the role, his rightful place, as king.  And if he was bored by the minutia of it on a general level, ruling Asgard as Odin, was far worse.  Repairing Asgard had been interesting, if a bit stifling since he couldn’t make improvements quite the way he wanted to, but that work had been completed eons ago.  To say that after months of this guise he was desperate for a distraction was something of an understatement.  The only benefit to pretending to be the senile king was that he wasn’t expected to be around much or to actually attend evening gatherings.  It was a small mercy, but one he appreciated nonetheless.  At this point, he was almost willing to admit that he preferred his cell, at least there he was undisturbed.

“Did you miss me?” a familiar yet unexpected voice cut through the silence as Loki entered his quarters.  He smiled despite himself, quickly schooling his features as he dropped the illusion he cloaked himself with.  “Odin” was in his rooms with orders not to be disturbed.  Here, he could drop the spell that made him appear to be the king and proceed with his evening undisturbed.  Normally, anyway.  He hadn’t counted on company.  “Not quite as dead as Thor would have us believe?”  Tony Stark pushed away from the table he had been leaning against, pretending to read one of the numerous tomes that lined the walls.

“Did it occur to you to inquire whether my dear brother knows what a pulse is?” He grinned.  Leaving hints of how to reach Asgard hidden in the “data” the mortal had taken during his brief stay on Midgard might have been the best idea he’d had in a while.

“You’ll notice I’m here.  So it was another trick?”

“Hardly, I fell unconscious, I'll give him that.  What do you want me to say, Stark, I'm at my core an opportunist.  As are you.”

“Fair enough,” Tony accepted, moving into his space.  “I came because I was promised a drink.”

“Just for the drink?”  Loki inquired.  

“The last one worked out well enough, so I thought I would try another round, maybe without the handcuffs this time?” Tony flashed a conspiratorial smirk at the god, knowing their thoughts were running parallel. “Though I probably should be mad.”

“You came,” Loki breathed, his lips ghosting over the other’s.  “I think that gives me the answer.”

“You probably should tell him you’re alive.  He’s pretty torn up.”

“You didn’t come here to lecture me about Thor.”

“No,” Tony accepted.  “I wasn’t sure what I would find when I got here.  You laid a pretty intriguing trail and I couldn’t quite buy the fact that you ‘died’ for him.”

“I wondered if you would be clever enough to put the pieces together.”

“So you’re pretending to be Odin?  Where is the old man?”

“He lives, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Not particularly,” Tony shrugged.  “How’s that going?”

“Ruling is not what I had been led to believe it was.”

“Why do you think I never took management back from Pepper?”

“Would she have any interest in adding Regent of Asgard to her resume?”

“Really doubt it, but feel free to ask next time you visit Earth.”

“Is that an invitation?”  Tony grinned.  Loki returned the smile, stepping closer, revelling in actually being able to touch the man before him for real rather than merely through a projection.


End file.
